 | The poet, the fool and the faeries |  |
136
OLDTOWN
Harness up the old horse;
Harness up the shay:
We are bound for Oldtown
Many miles away.
If arrived at middle night,
In the wintry weather,
We shall find the old folks
Waiting up together.
Harness up the shay:
We are bound for Oldtown
Many miles away.
If arrived at middle night,
In the wintry weather,
We shall find the old folks
Waiting up together.
There the heart is home, dear;
There the rooms are wide;
Rafters bright with firelight;
Summer-sweet inside.
There, though backs be bowed with years,
Forms are straight in seeming;
And beneath the locks of age
Youth's deep eyes are gleaming.
There the rooms are wide;
Rafters bright with firelight;
Summer-sweet inside.
There, though backs be bowed with years,
Forms are straight in seeming;
And beneath the locks of age
Youth's deep eyes are gleaming.
There the dooryards blossom
With the oldtime flowers;
Pansy, pink and mignonette,
Fair as childhood's hours.
Lamps of lost Aladdin days,
There the morning-glories
Hang; and roses grow the gold
Of old faery stories.
With the oldtime flowers;
Pansy, pink and mignonette,
Fair as childhood's hours.
Lamps of lost Aladdin days,
There the morning-glories
Hang; and roses grow the gold
Of old faery stories.
137
There the songs we loved once,
And the tales we told,
Haunt the hearths and chambers
With the words of old.
There, though lips be sad and thin,
Worn with toil the fingers,
Kindness keeps them beautiful
With a love that lingers.
And the tales we told,
Haunt the hearths and chambers
With the words of old.
There, though lips be sad and thin,
Worn with toil the fingers,
Kindness keeps them beautiful
With a love that lingers.
Harness up the old horse;
Harness up the shay:
We must get to Oldtown
Ere the close of day.
If the road be long, be long,
And the Inns—not any,
In the town is rest, my dear,
And good friends a many.
Harness up the shay:
We must get to Oldtown
Ere the close of day.
If the road be long, be long,
And the Inns—not any,
In the town is rest, my dear,
And good friends a many.
| The poet, the fool and the faeries | |